It looks like ticketing company Festicket is now heading into administration following a brief moratorium during which no legal action could be filed against the firm without court approval.

Festicket – which specialises in selling special packages around festivals and music events – submitted a ‘notice of commencement of moratorium’ to the UK’s Companies House last month. That’s a process under UK law designed to give companies that are facing certain financial challenges a little time to address those issues without the threat of litigation.

A new filing with Companies House earlier this week confirmed that the moratorium was brought to an end on 30 Aug because “the company is unable to pay moratorium debts [and] pre-moratorium debts for which the company does not have a payment holiday during the moratorium”. Companies are still obliged to pay things like rent and wages during any moratorium period.

When the paperwork initiating the moratorium was submitted last month a source told TheTicketingBusiness that the firm was in talks with a third party, possibly about buying the ticketing platform, while directors were also consulting advisors on ways to restructure the business.

However, a court filing attached to the latest Companies House submission states: “The moratorium is no longer likely to result in the rescue of the company as a going concern. The board resolved on 29 Aug that the company should enter administration proceedings and that a Notice Of Intention To Appoint Administrators be filed”.

A number of UK companies reliant in part or whole on the live music sector, and which were therefore hit by the COVID shutdowns, have moved towards administration in recent weeks, despite having just about survived the pandemic itself. That includes that other innovative ticketing outfit Pollen and the merchandise business Awesome.

The latter went though a so called pre-pack administration, with the assets of the insolvent Awesome Merchandise Limited sold to a new company set up by the merch business’s founder.

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